FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ASBESTOS - PAGE 4

Q-I want to paint over an asbestos covering on some of the heating vents in my basements. I have already sealed the edges of the asbestos with tape. What kind of paint should I use? A-I assume you are referring to the thin, paperlike asbestos covering that was pasted over some heating ducts in older homes. The general advice of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for treating in-home asbestos materials in good condition is to leave them alone; the asbestos will do no harm unless it is disturbed and particles become airborne.

Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. increased its provision for asbestos liability by $554 million, a move that will result in a negative net worth and prompts the suspension of its quarterly common stock dividend.

In a move that outraged some in the legal community, the American Bar Association on Tuesday voted to accept new medical criteria that would eliminate the vast majority of asbestos cases. The ABA, effectively accepting blame for swamping the nation's courts with asbestos claims, will lobby Congress for legislation that embraces the same limits. The proposal wouldn't prevent anyone with cancer caused by asbestos from suing, but addresses the more nebulous area of asbestos-caused pulmonary disease, which can be debilitating and ultimately fatal.

The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by companies that manufactured asbestos-containing insulation products for Navy ships. The court declined to hear arguments by Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. and Raymark Industries Inc. that the federal government should indemnify them for injury claims by shipyard workers. The two companies have been sued by present or former shipyard workers who say that exposure to asbestos particles caused disabling respiratory problems.

On the recommendation of Downers Grove School District 99 Supt. David Hendrix, the school board has voted to approve a sale of $1.1 million of fire prevention and safety bonds to finance ongoing asbestos removal projects in Downers Grove North and South High Schools. However, members of the board and Hendrix complained that the majority of the asbestos has already been removed from the schools, and the remaining material is "hidden behind walls" and therefore will be more expensive to remove.

A building subcontractor pleaded guilty Wednesday to using homeless men to remove asbestos from a Wisconsin factory without proper training or safety equipment. Buddy Vernon Frazier, 35, of Chattanooga, Tenn., also admitted to conspiring to use false Social Security numbers to get the men certified. Two men who worked for Frazier made similar admissions earlier this month. Federal prosecutors said Frazier recruited the homeless men in Tennessee for the job in Wisconsin.

A Baltimore Circuit jury found six companies negligent in the nation's largest consolidation of 8,555 asbestos personal injury claims in Maryland. The jury found the companies negligent and liable for making or selling products containing asbestos. The companies are GAF Corp., Keene Corp., Pittsburgh Corning Corp., AC&S Inc., MCIC and Porter-Hayden Co. Most of the plaintiffs are former pipefitters, boilermakers, shipbuilders, steelworkers and other craftsmen who handled or worked near products containing asbestos insulation and fireproofing material.

Cash-starved schools in the Chicago area and across the country must come up with millions of dollars in asbestos abatement funds in the next seven months or face federal action for violating a new law aimed at protecting children from the cancer-causing fiber. Though Congress provided no money specifically for the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA), school administrators must scramble to inspect their buildings and draft asbestos management plans by Oct. 12-less than a year after the law went into effect last Dec. 14. Dr. Richard Taylor, superintendent of Thornton Township High School in Harvey, said education reform is hard enough without state and federal asbestos regulations, which he calls "a tremendous burden financially."

The lakefront along Illinois Beach State Park near Zion will remain open, despite allegations that the beach is contaminated with asbestos, state officials said Wednesday. A report released by the Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society claims the beach is contaminated with pieces of asbestos that have washed ashore and with microscopic asbestos particles from a Waukegan Superfund site. "What I'm saying is you need to shut this area down and somebody needs to look at this from a public health standpoint," said Jeff Camplin, an environmental consultant who prepared the report.